The Afghan government opened new offices on the 29th of September in New York City, which consisted of an Afghan Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the Afghan Consulate General.This symbolizes the establishment of closer ties between Afghanistan and the United Nations.Afghanistan was one of the original signatory nations to the UN Charter on the 26th of June, 1945.Their relationship with the international governing body is historic but following the insurrections, instability and conflict that gripped the nation between roughly 1990 and the fallof the Taliban in 2001, the nation has been decidedly on the ‘outs’ of International Relations.
Accusations of against President Hamid Karzai’s administration and the grueling toll of ISAF personnel killed in the battle to restore stability and wrest power from the tribal militias have worn the credibility of the fledgling government.A Xinhua article quoted the Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta as saying "Unfortunately, the negative coverage of the situation in Afghanistan by international media has overshadowed the many positive trends and developments achieved since the collapse of the Taliban's regime."The opening of these new facilities is symbolic of Afghanistan’s desire to engage more deeply with the international community.
I have selected 'The Great Game' as the title of this web-log in homage to the historical roots of the Afghan conflict. Perpetually one of the great crossroads of imperial conquest and expansion, the Afghan region has found itself beholden to a multitude of successive regimes, both internal and external.
This has left the various ethnic and cultural groups which comprise 'The Afghan People' in perpetual flux. They have been left to lead what life they can manage amid the chaos of uprisings, transitions and titanic clashes between these mightier states.
This Log is being undertaken as a University Assignment for the purposes of developing my understanding of International Relations. The end result will be the chronicling of major events pertaining to the nation of Afghanistan and its peoples from roughly the 11th of September, 2009 through to early January 2010. I will be culling my sources from a variety of reputable and scholarly international news and governmental sources.
The interrelated issue of International Terrorism will undoubtedly get much attention here. Peace Support Operations and Operations Other Than War currently underway in the nation of Afghanistan are in response to the widespread use by International Terror groups of that same country for their own spiritual and ideological center. As the control and stability of the Afghan nation represents somewhat the 'center of gravity' for the enemies of the west, it is very difficult to discuss events that occur within its borders and not make reference to those pertinent ones which occur without.
A media coup for a detainee in Guantanamo for instance, can have untold effects on the capability of or mandate for the NATO ISAF mission in the region. Simple systems can be seen to generate complex results and complex systems can be seen to generate simple results. It is my intent to encapsulate in this log the full spectrum of forthcoming issues regarding Afghanistan both as the shattered nation it is, and the strong, thoroughly stabilized democracy that it can be.
The culmination of this Log will be the publication of an Essay (also on the same topics, also for the same course). It will cover almost 65 years of Afghan History, establishing the linkage between the nation's fragmented present and its past. Additionally, the Essay will explain exactly how it is that 'International Terrorism' as we now know it, came to be, and how it was that the enemies of the West came to call the nation of Afghanistan their home.
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